As from 1 January 2005 , where an industrial instrument 
(award or agreement) previously stipulated the minimum level of earnings as 35% of $309.00, it has been varied to exclude employees whose ordinary time earnings are less than $450 in a calendar month. This is similar to the exclusion provided under the Commonwealth Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992.
Previously, industrial instrument superannuation clauses generally required that employees must have a minimum level of weekly ordinary earning before superannuation contributions are payable (e.g. earnings greater than 35% of $309.00 = $108.15/week) or that employees work a certain period of time before they have an entitlement to occupational superannuation (e.g. 5 consecutive weeks and a minimum of 50 hours work during that period).
Refer to your industrial instrument for specific information.
Most industrial instruments specify that contributions be paid into a limited number of approved funds. However, provisions in the Industrial Relations Act 1999 (PDF, 1.9MB) allowed for contributions to be paid to any complying superannuation fund if there was a written agreement between the employer and employee.
The Industrial Relations & Other Acts Amendment Act 2005 effective from 1 April 2005 removed section 405 of the Act which allowed employers and employees to agree upon a complying superannuation fund other than a fund specified in their industrial instrument. The removal of this section will not affect the operation of federal “choice of funds” legislation.
New agreements about choice of fund cannot be made under Queensland legislation, however, employers and employees who exercised their right to opt out of an industrial instrument fund as permitted under the previous section 405 of the Act, will be permitted to continue to contribute to that agreed fund despite this section now being removed from the Act.
A complying fund is one that is authorised under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993.
When an employee retires, they become entitled to a superannuation benefit.
Most funds incorporate insurance that provides for a substantial benefit to be paid on the death or permanent disablement of the employee.
Schemes are portable and employee's benefits can be transferred from one employer to the next.
It is in an employee's interests to complete, when requested by the employer, an application to join the approved occupational superannuation scheme. Failure to do so could mean the employee might not be able to claim the accrued superannuation benefit.
Remember, it costs employees nothing to join unless they wish to make voluntary contributions to increase the benefit.
Legal proceedings may be taken against an employer for failure to observe the industrial instrument provision. The employer may be ordered to pay back payments of contributions as well as any interest that those contributions would have attracted in an approved fund.
In the event of serious injury to an employee, an employer may be liable for damages in a civil court action. The damages could be equivalent to the benefits that would have been paid by the relevant superannuation fund to which the employer should have been contributing.
Wageline's fact sheet on occupational superannuation:
Australian Taxation Office superannuation
web site or by telephoning 13 10 20 toll free.
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© The State of Queensland (Department of Employment and Industrial Relations) 2006
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